Small Mammal Trapping Weekend
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HEREFORDSHIRE MAMMAL GROUP AUTUMN NEWSLETTER (September-December 2017) What’s Inside? Contact: Dave Smith for directions and to confirm attendance Title Page Monday, 25 September 2017 at 13.00 and 19.00 Autumn Events 1 Bat Box Check and Trapping at Lime Kilns - Lea Membership 1 and Paget’s Wood New Members 2 Meet in lay-by at the side of road at SO595346 News in Brief 2 Contact Denise Foster via HMG Bat Co-ordinator Update 5 Dormouse Co-ordinator Update 7 OCTOBER 2017 Water Shrew Project 8 HMG Contacts 9 Wednesday, 11 October 2017 at 10:00 Bat Box Check - Lea and Paget’s Wood Meet in lay-by at the side of road at SO595346 Contact Denise Foster via HMG AUTUMN EVENTS (Events are subject to being updated – please Thursday, 12 October 2017 at 19.15 check the website and Facebook regularly) AGM followed by 5 short presentations on Local HMG Projects SEPTEMBER 2017 Venue: Bunch of Carrots Pub at Hampton Bishop, HR1 4JR Monday, 4 September, 2017 19.30 Bats and Roadside Mammal Survey - Analook NOVEMBER 2017 Training Venue: Hom Green, Ross on Wye Saturday, 11 November, 2017 – 10.00 to 16.00 Contact David Lee via HMG Bone ID workshop with Ric Morris Venue: Hampton Bishop village hall Tuesday, 5 September 2017 at 10:00 Numbers will be limited so booking is essential Bat Box Check - Lea and Paget’s Wood There will be a charge for this event Meet in lay-by at the side of road at SO595346 Contact: Leigh Russell via HMG Contact Denise Foster via HMG DECEMBER 2017 Monday, 18 September 2017 at 10:00 Bat Box Check – The Doward Wednesday, 13 December 2017 at 19.00 White Rocks and Woodside HNT Reserves, HMG Christmas Social - Eating, Drinking, Meet at Miner’s Rest Car Park at SO553158 Bowling & Rock n Rolling in Hereford Contact: Mike Bailey via HMG Venue: MFA Bowl, Station Approach, Hereford Friday, 22 September 2017, 09:30 HR1 1BB Dormouse Box Check Contact Leigh Russell via HMG Ast Wood Contact: Dave Smith for directions and to MEMBERSHIP confirm attendance Leigh Russell, Membership Secretary Saturday, 23 September 2017, 09:30 We currently have 81 paid up members in HMG Bat Box Check and 262 followers on Facebook. Remember, if Ast Wood join the Mammal Society and get HMG subs someone to replace an existing incumbent, then free! nominations need to be sent to the Secretary (Mike Bailey) no later than two weeks before the Facebook - HMG has an active Facebook page AGM. where we post all our events past and present: www.facebook.com/groups/222077991279736/ There will not be a charge for the meeting but we will appreciate donations to help cover the hiring of the room. NEW MEMBERS We would like to welcome the following new Hedgehog Festival – Ross on Wye members to HMG: Hazel Pickering Fred Taylor Bartolomeu Bueno Cunha John Powell Scott Brown Porscha Thompson Lorna Price Linda Moseley NEWS IN BRIEF HMG’s Annual General Meeting, 2017 HMG’s Annual General Meeting is to be held on Thursday, 12 October 2017 at 19.15 at the Bunch of Carrots, Hampton Bishop, HR1 4JR. The formal AGM business will be followed by 4 ten minute presentations about the work we have carried out this year. There will also be a short presentation about the new Water Shrew project. Presentations include: Family Fun Day at the Hedgehog Festival in Ross- on-Wye and learn how to be a Hedgehog Hero, Dormouse Project buy and make hedgehog-themed arts and crafts Bats and Swifts in Churches Project including homes made by local children, learn Woodland Bat Project (including the Radio- how to create wildlife gardens, come face to tracking Project) face with birds of prey, listen to hedgehog- Introduction to the Water Shrew Project themed stories and so much more! Bats and Roadside Mammals Driven Transects Check out Facebook on @festivalhog for more The Committee are proposing to change the details or www.playross.com/hedgehog- subscription fees for 2017 which will be notified festival.html at the meeting. The present committee are all willing to stand for another year but if any member wishes to join as a new committee member or nominate 2 UK Biodiversity Indicators Report from the BBC Countryfile were filming at this years Hay JNCC-DEFRA (2017) Festival. During the week, Ellie Harrison took Martin Brown, author and illustrator of the book ‘Lesser Spotted Animals’, on a special safari of the Wye Valley. Armed with their sketch books they headed to Mabley Farm in Woolhope Dome on a wildlife drawing safari. On the top of their safari list were the Wild Honey Bee, the Wood White butterfly and the Hazel Dormouse. David Lee and Denise Foster were able to introduce the team to two very adorable dormice. HMG at Local Events HMG were represented at two shows this summer, Blossom Day at HWT’s Pool Ellock Nature Reserve and also at the Hampton Bishop Village Fete. Photo: Taken from JNCC-Defra Website (Sep17) JNCC-DEFRA are committed to developing indicators to report on progress towards meeting international goals and targets. The 2017 UK Biodiversity Indicators Report is now available from http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page- Photo: Hampton Bishop Village Fete 4229 Pine martens in Herefordshire HMG on BBC Countryfile There have been no confirmed sightings of Pine martens in Herefordshire for many years but this may change in the near future. There is now an established population of Martens to our west in Wales thanks to the efforts of the Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) and their recent translocations of over forty animals from the expanding populations in Scotland. In the north, the Shropshire Mammal Group (SMG) and the Shropshire Wildlife Trust (SWT) have discovered a small number of martens on the Herefordshire, Shropshire border near Clun, which they have been monitoring for a number of years now, and down in the south east the Gloucestershire Photo: Denise Foster and David Lee filming with Ellie Wildlife Trust (GWT) are hoping to replicate the Harrison and Martin Brown from BBC Countryfile VWTs work in the Forest of Dean. They have a dedicated member of staff who is working on their own Pine marten project and if all goes 3 according to plan, they will begin to re-introduce detailed information including which martens into the FOD in the autumn of 2018, organizations you volunteer with, licence status some of these animals will almost certainly cross or whether you are about to start training, the border into Herefordshire soon after their whether you are a bat rehabilitator and your release. With all these neighboring Martens at frequency of handling bats. our borders, it is only a matter of time before we have our own wild population of Pine martens in The new risk assessment is completed by the Herefordshire. practice nurse/doctor to determine whether the subject is at risk of contracting rabies which will include the frequency of handling bats. Clearly vaccination will only be provided if the applicant is considered to be at significant risk. If you wish to be able to handle bats at Mammal Group events you will need to be vaccinated against rabies. However, HMG is often asked for a reference by the doctors surgery justifying the free rabies vaccination. With immediate effect HMG will only provide a reference for those members who demonstrate a level of commitment towards working with bats. Pine marten credit Robert Cruickshanks Full details and forms can be found below: With this in mind, the Herefordshire Wildlife www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies- (HWT) Trust are beginning to develop their own pre-exposure-prophylaxis-guidelines Pine marten project. Herefordshire Mammal group were invited to the first meeting of the www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies- Herefordshire Pine marten project, which was pre-exposure-request-form also attended by representatives from the VWT, GWT, SWT, SMG, Woodland Trust, Forestry Post-exposure guidelines and risk assessment Commission, National Trust, and the Welsh have also been updated. beaver project. The project will be focused around the Marches area of the county adjacent www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies- to the Shropshire Pine marten sightings. The post-exposure-prophylaxis-management- early stages will involve surveying and guidelines monitoring the area for martens which may already have entered the county, and public www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies- engagement. This could be followed by making post-exposure-risk-assessment-form-and- and erecting den boxes and possibly introducing calendar animals into the area in the future if there is www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies- thought to be a need and suitable sites can be risk-assessment-treatment-after-exposure-to- identified. At some stage the HWT and HMG will bats be looking for volunteers to assist with the initial surveying of the area. The pre-exposure risk assessment form only applies to volunteer batworkers. However, Public Health England - New Rabies according to the NHS Choices Rabies webpage: Pre-Exposture Prophylaxis Form "If you need the vaccine because there's a risk you could be exposed to the infection through Public Health England has just issued new your job, you might be able to have the guidelines for requesting pre-exposure rabies vacconation for free. Ask your employer or prophylaxis. In order to obtain rabies vaccine occupational health department about this.” free-of-charge your GP or Practice Nurse now must submit a risk assessment form for each www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Rabies/Pages/preventio subject. Bat workers must now provide more n.aspx 4 Bat Co-ordinator Update by Denise Foster Bats and Swift in Churches Project HMG has carried out preliminary surveys at 18 new churches, 5 Volunteer Bat Roost Visits and monitoring checks at Pembridge and Wellington Church during the summer.